Senator Strom Thurmond, Republican-South Carolina, speaks at Arbor Day tree planting ceremonies at the Pentagon. Behind Thurmond are Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh Jr. and Army CHIEF of STAFF General (GEN) John A. Wickham Jr. During the ceremony Thurmond, a D-Day veteran, praised the Soldiers who participated in the Normandy invasion. He also helped plant an oak tree at the lower Mall entrance to the building and poured cups of sand from the beaches of Normandy into the soil around the trees